Fleeting moments of triumphs, or lasting satisfaction.
I genuinely believe that no win is going to last long. There is nothing that I can achieve which will give me the feeling of triumph for the rest of my life.
People do believe that just after achieving this one thing. They will feel accomplished and fulfilled after that. But it’s doesn’t happen. Even if you get what you want, it’s not gonna make you feel accomplished. It will. But for a short amount of time. And it will pass.
My idea of success is not to run after something for such a long time passively and finding out that I no longer feel fulfilled after achieving it. Because no matter whatever you achieve. Even if you get the Oscars. The Nobel prize. The feeling of achievement is not going to last long. It isn’t going to happen that you won’t feel the need of running after another thing.
That’s the reason why I always ask myself this question.
Even if I get what I want. What after then? What will keep in driving me towards a feeling of accomplishment? What will drive me towards fulfillment? What will bring me a sense of satisfaction?
Because if it doesn’t last. Then there is every chance I will feel tricked by my aspirations. I thought I would be on the never-ending loop of satisfaction. And here I am. Again feeling like there is something more to do. Something more to go after.
I am always thinking of the ways things would keep on driving me. Because once I get something and lose the drive. I lose. But even if I don’t get it. If I don’t lose the drive. I win.
If I achieve something that makes me lazy and drained, indirectly achieving it has made me a loser rather than a winner. But if I don’t achieve something and then I become more energetic and enthusiastic, it is my real win. You lose or win depending upon what state you’re in after accomplishing something. The conventional norm might announce you to be the winner, but if you feel drained after it. you lose.
Success is to go after something that makes you feel satisfied not only when you have achieved it. But also when you’re going after it. Success is to have the drive to keep on working towards something bigger than ourselves. That even if we know we wouldn’t be able to achieve it. But still. The cause is so bigger. That we want to work towards it. Despite having the chance of never being able to cross the finish line.
There are paths that you walk to cross the finish line. And there are paths that you walk not knowing where the finish line is, or rather the finish line is too far away that we might not be able to cross in our lifetimes. But still, we are so much in love with the idea of its coming alive, we would ready to work for such a cause for the whole life and then leave on the note where the next generation will carry forward.
There is something on the path itself that makes us feel satisfied and we constantly feel the drive. The journey is too long, but despite that, every step towards it feels like a big leap. It is the journey that keeps us going. The destination stops us and sometimes we also lose the drive to carry on and keep going. some destinations are so gratifying that they might make you lose your will to work.
If you win but if you lose the will to win, you lose. But if you lose and you don’t lose the will to win, you win.
Originally published at http://sanarajarsite.wordpress.com on July 15, 2020.
